As is well known to those skilled in the art, polyolefins, typified by polypropylene and polyethylene, possess surfaces which are characterized by their poor properties with respect to wettability, adhesivity, paintability, and by their inability to be readily printed. These properties may serve as a practical limitation to the uses to which these materials may be put. Background on this problem and prior efforts to solve it may be obtained from Mechanisms of Photophysical Processes and Photochemical Reactions in Polymers by J. F. Rabek, J. Wiley and Sons (1987) p339-350 Photomodification of Polymer Surfaces. and R. P. Singh, Surface Grafting Onto Polypropylene--A Survey of Recent Developments, Prog. Polymer. Sci, Vol 1.7., 251-281 (1992). Another reference is M. Pasternak et al Photo-substitution of Benzyl Hydrogens with Alcoholic Moieties. Selective Formation of Alkylbenzene Carbinols Tetrahedron Letters 24, 3439-3442 (1983). See also U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/992,666 filed 18 Dec 1992.
It is an object of this invention to provide a polymer treating process to modify the surface properties of the polymer. Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.